CS maintainers tops in AETC Published Nov. 27, 2006 By SSgt Amanda Mills Public Affairs Vance Air Force Base, Okla. -- The 71st Communications Squadron was recently named the Air Education and Training Command's Small Unit Maintenance Effectiveness Award. Winning the award was a team effort, said CMSgt Matt McNally, 71st CS chief of maintenance. "The squadron's accomplishments, their proactiveness in maintaining air traffic control and landing systems as well as meteorological and navigational aids really speaks highly of their commitment to excellence. The maintainers are out here at any hour of the day, making sure this equipment is ready to support the wing's flying training mission. They perform all this as a team, and from the lowest-ranking Airman to myself, we're pretty proud of this award." "It's been excellent working together with everyone," said SrA Michael Boudreau, 71st CS maintainer. "We did what we had to do to get the job done, and we really felt deserving of the award." The squadron submitted a 17-page package to compete for the award. That package is now up for Air Force level competition. It included an executive summary and detailed the accomplishments of more than 25 maintenance personnel during fiscal 2004. The 71st CS delivered spectacular air traffic control, landing system and meteorological and navigational aid maintenance to the Air Force's only Joint Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training wing, the package summary stated. Radar maintenance served as the testbed for Open Radar Data Acquisition upgrades on the Next Generation Weather Radar system. Working with engineers, they increased the speed and accuracy of weather data collection and distribution for 58 radar sites worldwide. Vance Air Force Base was the first to transition the GPN-20 Airport Surveillance Radar's video and control signals from copper to fiber optic cable. The $50,000 self-help project significantly improved radar clarity and reliability and postured the wing for future cutting-edge airfield system upgrades. Meteorological and navigational aids technicians masterfully replaced eight outdated wind measurement sensors, completing the 32-hour project in a mere 18 hours while providing seamless integration with the existing base weather displays, the summary stated. The squadron has the second-best Next Generation Weather Radar uptime rate out of 26 DoD sites, its more than 99 percent uptime was well above the 96 percent Air Force standard. They performed over 50 in-depth preventive maintenance inspections on the weather radar ensuring its availability to support flying operations in a weather-torn area. "This award is a great testament to the exceptional performance of all involved," said Maj Richard Folks, 71st CS commander. "For us, this award is the 'Golden Chalice.' It's the highest award we can get, being mostly maintenance. This year has also been phenomenal, for the squadron and wing, because we're so related to the mission. When people see planes flying, they're seeing our work in action."